FUCHS goes digital
For years, FUCHS has pursued a strategy of turning the challenges of digitalization into opportunities. Several products and business models have already been commercialized, and development has only just begun.
The CD was an amazing invention back in the day. So many songs on one disk and you didn't even need to turn it over. With the CD came the DVD – whole films fit on it. And today? Today, they have long been replaced by streaming services of every kind. It's a similar situation with fax machines, digital cameras, or cell phones – and could conceivably be the case for the lubricants industry, too. “Disruptive innovation” is the key word. These often begin as products or services for small niche applications that established companies don't consider a threat, but which then have a disruptive influence on the market. They can take established companies so much by surprise that even completely new competitors threaten to oust them from the market. Yet established companies are successful in the long term precisely because they make only moderate use of innovations, thereby offering the customer continuity and reliability. It's a real dilemma.
Old heroes – Disruptive technologies are nothing new
Most really good innovations have what it takes to be a game changer. In the age of digitalization, they seem to occur particularly often and develop especially rapidly. Here is a selection.
Toward the end of the 19th century, horse-drawn vehicles were gradually replaced by automobiles.
The Z3, the first user-programmable computer, paved the way for the digital revolution in 1941.
The CD once replaced the LP, but soon looked old itself when the mp3 format was developed in 1982.
Shopping at the click of a mouse: Online retail has been causing problems for high street stores for years.
Smart phones are replacing more and more of the "old heroes", like phone booths, cameras, navigation devices, and ATM cards.
Printed encyclopedias are giving way to digital alternatives such as Wikipedia, which went online in 2001 and is growing constantly.
Digital maps and route planners have long since replaced old folding maps and atlases.
Less is more
This is why, with its own digital strategy, FUCHS set out on a transformation process years ago. The Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and innovative business models are all aspects which FUCHS carefully addressed a long while ago in order to develop new approaches using small, agile teams who often come up with unusual ideas that go beyond day-to-day business.
Several digital services and products have already been brought to market maturity in this way. Dr. Matthias Marquart has taken on the new position of Chief Digital Officer in the FUCHS Group and is working on advancing this digitalization process. The aim is to relieve the customer of tiresome tasks through automation and telemetry, to streamline processes, and to reduce downtimes to a minimum – a key strength of digital technologies and a broad field for new business models.
No more replenishment concerns
One digital product that is already achieving success is SmartLevel, an IoT solution for monitoring the level of lubricant tanks and automatically reordering engine oil in auto repair shops and other industries.
“Many workshop operators know the problem that FUCHS SmartLevel solves”, explains Dr. Matthias Marquart. The levels of their engine oil tanks need to be read manually. However, these tanks are often located in hard-to-reach places and are checked only rarely as a result. Often, no one notices that the lubricant is running low until it is almost gone, and the replenishment order is triggered too late. “SmartLevel networks FUCHS with the lubricant tank,” says Dr. Marquart. If the level falls below a certain threshold, the level sensor automatically sends an email to the Sales department and orders another delivery. “This gets rid of the obstacles to interaction between Sales and the customer,” says Dr. Marquart.
“FUCHS SmartLevel gets rid of the obstacles to interaction between Sales and the customer, and concerns about repeat lubricant orders are a thing of the past.”
DR. MATTHIAS MARQUART, CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER, FUCHS PETROLUB SE
FUCHS SmartLevel is an intelligent level monitoring system. Find out exactly how it works in this video.
Other perspectives
How do such products come about? By changing perspective: “We're moving away from the question of how FUCHS can offer the customer an even better lubricant and toward the question of how FUCHS can help the customer to optimize their business,” says Dr. Marquart. “Often, the result is not a new fluid, but rather a sensor system for example.” It is important to remain focused on the customer in new business models – whether they're digital or analog.
The developers of SmartLevel first conducted a small market research study among workshop operators: How do they order, how do they store the goods, how do they communicate with FUCHS? The result? Even if the customer notices that the tank is almost empty in time, there are still obstacles to overcome. The requirement to reorder oil needs to make its way from everyday workshop activity at the tank and into the office – and then the order needs to be placed. This can be a challenge if several hours go by or many other activities need to be done between checking the tank and next stopping by the office. If this procedure is automated, it does away with the order process and completely eliminates the danger of running out of oil.
Fluid state monitoring in metalworking
SmartLevel is not the only digital product that FUCHS already has in its portfolio. The Fluid Analyzer is another example: It is a sensor unit that monitors the pH value or conductivity of metalworking fluids in machine tools. The better the fluid is calibrated, the better the process runs. Testing is normally performed manually. The Fluid Analyzer – which is a fixed installation – checks the values automatically and transmits the results to the FUCHS FluidsConnect database.
Based on the data gathered, the customer sees a dashboard with a status display. This gives them an overview of the current quality of the metalworking fluid in their machine. If the pH-value exceeds a threshold the dashboard issues an alarm. The particular difficulty with this application is that the sensor system has to perform a chemical analysis. This is a complex task involving vague measurements. The system needs to be able to cope with this – which requires great expertise in handling lubricants and their behaviors when it comes to the design.
The FUCHS Fluid Analyzer continuously monitors measured values like concentration, pH value, and temperature of the cooling lubricant used in the machine tool in real time. This video shows you how that works and what benefits it brings.
“FUCHS’ business is based on its knowledge of lubricants. And this knowledge can be transformed into logics. Logics that can be used to predict the behavior of a lubricant in a customer’s planned application, for example.”
DR. MATTHIAS MARQUART, CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER, FUCHS PETROLUB SE
Into the digital future
Such automated procedures mean an increase in efficiency for the customer. However, they can also enable FUCHS to optimize internal processes such as logistics. What's more, digitalization offers three more big advantages for the lubricant producer: It creates special knowledge of the customer, boosts the producer's own operating excellence, and successfully shifts their business model.
If we think further in this direction, the opportunities for development are virtually limitless. “After all, FUCHS' business is based on its knowledge of lubricants. And this knowledge can be transformed into logics. Logics that can be used to predict the behavior of a lubricant in a customer's planned application, for example,” concludes Dr. Marquart. It's certainly very interesting for simulation based product developments – even if that is a long way in the future.
“In developing digital business models, we’re moving away from the question of how FUCHS can offer the customer an even better lubricant and toward the question of how FUCHS can help the customer to optimize their business.”
DR. MATTHIAS MARQUART, CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER, FUCHS PETROLUB SE
AUTOMATIC ORDER MANAGEMENT WITH FUCHS SMARTLEVEL
After 20 years with changing lubricant suppliers, Autohaus Mattusch in Kaiserslautern opted for a supply contract with FUCHS. The terms and approval of the FUCHS products by auto manufacturers were convincing enough in themselves. Yet it quickly became clear that SmartLevel monitoring from FUCHS would bring real added value for the dealer and workshop operator. In the past, the oil tank had often run empty without anyone re-ordering in time – a situation that always disrupted all internal processes. The SmartLevel technology now takes care of the complete order management for Mattusch. The small unit checks the tank contents every day using ultrasound and places a replenishment order for oil automatically if necessary. It's a massive relief when it comes to handling engine oil.
